


Etched in Stone

by AvalonOfCeles



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, but they aren't quite happy in here yet oops, let these kids be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 15:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17665181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvalonOfCeles/pseuds/AvalonOfCeles
Summary: Back when they were just three pure hearts, pictures were drawn on walls, depicting their greatest and most daring dreams.Sora and Kairi draw pictures of each other, and Riku feels left out.But best friends will always know how to cheer up one another.A heart slowly being overtaken by desperation and fear of weakness revisits these drawings and reflects on recent failures, determined to secure his future with his friends.





	Etched in Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! I haven't written a fic for kh in years, so please be nice to me haha. I haven't posted in a very long time because of anxiety, but I felt very inspired with this fic, and I'm really proud of it. So I hope you all enjoy!! I am still working on writing these three, so apologies for anything being ooc!! I hope you still like it!
> 
> I may add on to this in some way later? I have some extra ideas. But I'm not sure!! But hopefully expect more kh fics in the future.
> 
> There are NO spoilers for kh3 mentioned in this fic. I'm not gonna post anything like that for quite a while, don't worry.
> 
> My twitter is AvalonOfCeles!! Come talk to me!!
> 
> Enjoy~

The beach felt warm on his head, heating up the sand that fell through his fingers every time he would pick up a handful. He cupped his hands around some sand and unceremoniously dumped it onto the pile that he and Kairi were creating. The redhead giggled from beside him, and Sora grinned at her. They picked up as much sand as their tiny hands could hold and kept raising their pile higher, watching the sand fall down the sides. Sora turned to pick up another handful, but stopped just as he lifted it as he spotted Riku, sitting on the ground a few feet away, closer to the water and drawing in the wet sand with a sick.

He frowned, but Kairi called out before he could. “Rikuuu! Come help us with the pile!” she called out. Riku’s shoulders almost imperceptibly stiffened, but Sora noticed. He stopped Kairi before she could keep yelling toward him. He stood up and motioned for Kairi to join him. They walked to Riku, their original task forgotten. He got close enough to peek over his friend’s shoulder, Kairi leaning over him, grasping his shoulders and standing on her toes to look. “Watcha drawing, Riku?” he asked, curiously, tilting his head.

Riku jumped as soon as Sora spoke, scrambling to cover whatever he was doodling in the sand, standing up and over it. “Nothing! What do you want?” he asked. Sora frowned. Riku could be a bit moody at times, but he was rarely like _this_. He was usually playing around with them.

Kairi puffed her cheeks at him, and Sora could still feel her hands pressing down on his shoulders. “Did something happen? You’re acting sad.” She stepped out from behind Sora and put her hands on her hips.

Riku stepped back. “Nothing’s wrong, go away!” His voice was just barely edging on a whine. Sora just watched for a moment, unusually silent as he processed Riku’s attitude slowly. He often acted angry when upset, and refused to tell them what was wrong, but he was also one to make the reasons for his bad mood known very clearly. Riku was hiding something.

While lost in his thoughts, Kairi had gone up and grabbed Riku’s hand, tugging on it. “Come play with us! That will make you feel better!” she insisted. Kairi could always make Riku smile quickly. She was good at putting people in a good mood. Sora was too. But whatever was wrong with Riku, he seemed determined to not let himself be cheered up. He pulled his arm away. “No! I’m going home. I’ll see you two tomorrow,” he mumbled, all but dashing off toward their boats.

Sora and Kairi both shouted after him, but Riku was in his boat before they could even begin to run after him. Kairi folded her arms in frustration and Sora puffed his cheeks again. But looking at Kairi, he smiled a bit, slightly forced. “I’m sure he’ll cheer up soon. We’ll bother him more tomorrow if he’s not!” he exclaimed, grinning mischievously. This seemed to pacify Kairi, but Sora himself was itching to run off after his friend and demand to know what was wrong. He’d never seen that expression on his face before…

 

Except Riku wasn’t back to normal the next day. Or the next day either. Sora had given him his time alone, now it was time to pull some answers out of him. He and Kairi were at their wits end and just wanted to play again, Instead, every waking moment was spent with minds wandering and wandering, the idea of what happened to Riku simply left to their own wild imaginations. Had something happened at home? Did he get into a fight? Riku hated when people were mad at him, especially his mom. Getting in trouble usually upset him. What if something happened in a book Riku was reading? He always got attached to stories and characters, so what if he was upset over that? Sora and Kairi shared their theories with each other, but all it really did was worry them further, especially the more Riku wouldn’t spill.

One day, when they were playing on the island, Riku never showed up. It had been a week at this point, which was far too long for both of them to go without Riku when it was clear something was up. The next day, another day with no Riku, the two met up on the beach with a common goal in mind; they were going to hunt down their best friend and fix whatever problem it was that he had.

They began their small search party made up of two ten year olds around the seaside town. They went everywhere they could think of that Riku might be. He wasn’t home, as far as they could tell, and only got a reassuring pat on the head from Riku’s mom and her confidence that, whatever was wrong, he would come to them when he was ready.

But they were far past the stage of waiting.

So they continued their search.

But Riku wasn’t anywhere that they searched. Not the park, not the library, not their usual ice cream place, nowhere! They went back to the beach and collapsed with a sigh, confidence nearly shattered. But something caught Sora’s sight. He started patting Kairi’s arm as he got up, pointing toward the docks. “Riku’s boat is gone!” he gasped in alarm.

She got up and sure enough, only two of their three small boats remained. Of _course_ Riku would go to the island! Especially if he would have it all to himself! They got up and rushed off, nearly leaping into their respective boats. Kairi started rowing immediately. “Race you!” she shouted, giggling.

“Hey!” he laughed, quickly rowing after her.

He lost the race, but it was quickly forgotten as they arrived and sure enough, Riku’s boat was tied at the dock. They got out and began searching the island, this time splitting up to cover the island more quickly.

However, their search yielded no results. Sora searched the trees, the tree house, nearly everywhere. Kairi scoured the beach and the water and still, nothing. They met up again near the shed, worry increasing to something more dire. Kairi looked upset and frightened, and Sora did his best to console her despite his own debilitating fear. They were sitting silently and Sora was looking around the island as they sat, legs swinging. Suddenly, Kairi froze where she sat.

Sora looked over with a frown. “What’s wrong?”  
Kairi pointed toward a dark, shaded entrance. The entrance to his and Riku’s secret place. He’d brought Kairi there just a few weeks ago, since she’d fully become apart of their group. “I thought I saw something moving. I didn’t look in there, did you?”  
Sora shook his head slowly and stood up as his chest filled with hope. Their secret place! He should have known! He started forward, then stopped, turning to Kairi who had stood up. “Wait here! I’ll go first to check on him,” he whispered. Kairi was very clearly ready to fight this suggestion. He braced himself and put his hands up. “It’s always been our place and I don’t think he knows I took you in without him! I’ll call you in as soon as it’s clear, I promise! No friend conversation without you,” he assured.  
Kairi folded her arms. “Alright, but if you don’t, I’m storming in their myself and I’ll make _sure_ he’s cheered up. But don’t you push him too much!” She was clearly annoyed, but Sora decided that was okay for now. She’d get over it once they were both with Riku and she was shoving her positivity on him. For now, it would be just him and he’d call her in quickly after.

So, he made his way slowly toward the cave. He wandered slowly though the first path, in the dark, stumbling every so often and hoping silently that he wouldn’t startle Riku on accident. Once he was inside, he let his eyes get used to the dark as he looked around. The drawings on the wall were the easiest to see, drawings of made up adventures and monsters Sora and Riku imagined and drew. But there was no Riku…

Going further in, he spotted the drawing on one of the far walls that he and Kairi had drawn when he had first shown her their secret place; his own way of welcoming her further into their friendship.

But something looked odd against the rock right next to the drawing, an outline of a hunched figure. He tilted his head and got closer and saw none other than Riku, huddled against the rock next to the drawing, eyes shut tight as he probably used the ever so effective dinosaur logic. Sora stepped closer. “Riku..? What are you doing..?” he asked quietly, crouching a couple of feet from him, on the other side of the drawing.

Riku jolted and whirled around to face him. “Nothing! Just.. wanted to come here, that’s all…” he mumbled, poking at the ground with a finger as he pretended to be nonchalant, like he hadn’t just been startled by Sora’s approach.

Sora sat down and tilted his head. “Why are you avoiding us?” he asked in a small voice. He had to jump straight to the point. He couldn’t bear to wait any longer. Riku just shrugged. Sora kept asking small questions, pushing for answers. But Riku seemed to be at the point of the silent treatment, so Sora fell silent too.

They sat their for longer than Sora liked, and he was sure Kairi was getting impatient too. Just before he was about to say more, Riku spoke up, voice so hushed that he almost didn’t hear anything.

“You brought Kairi here,” he murmured.

Sora blinked in surprise, staring at him. He’d meant to tell Riku, but it had just… slipped his mind. “Yeah, I did,” he responded, not thinking much of it. “She’s our best friend now, and it’s the best friend secret place..!” he exclaimed softly, smiling a bit.

But the more he stared at Riku, the smile slowly dissipated. Riku was staring at the drawing with a strange look in his eyes, the same look from the week before that Sora didn’t understand. It made Sora feel like there was a hole in his heart. His best friend was hurting and he just couldn’t seem to figure out _why._ He didn’t like not understanding things. It frustrated him. He was always able to understand Riku. But this expression hurt him in even more ways he didn’t understand.

Suddenly, something became clear to him. It was as if a voice came to him in his head, clear as day and spoke to him a single word.

 _Jealousy_.

Oh. It suddenly made sense.

It all made sense suddenly, yet it also didn’t. Riku shouldn’t be jealous! They were best friends. All of them were.

But he had brought Kairi into their space without a word. He could feel Riku’s hurt as if it was his own.

“You’re jealous..?” He whispered.

Riku jolted and looked up. “What?! No I’m not!” he shouted.

Sora ran a hand over the drawing. “I-it’s okay to be..! I shouldn’t have brought her here without you… You should have been here too…” he whispered, frowning at the drawing.

Riku shook his head quickly. “No, it’s _fine_ to do stuff without me, I just…” he trailed off and sighed.

Sora just stared at him. This was where his understanding stopped. “Just..?” he urged him on gently.

Riku bowed his head and Sora could no longer see his eyes. “...I didn’t want either of you to replace me…” he whispered.

His eyes widened and lunged forward to grab Riku’s hands and grasp them tightly between his own. Green eyes stared up at him in shock, shiny from unshed tears. “No way! Riku, you’re our _best friend._ Bestest friend in the whole world! There’s no way we could ever, ever leave you!” he insisted. When Riku remained silent other than a sniffle, he kept going. “We’re a trio. We aren’t complete without you!”

Riku’s eyes slid to the drawing and he smiled just slightly. “Yeah… we are…” he whispered. Sora pulled him into a hug and he reluctantly hugged back.

Sora held onto him for a few minutes. Things were quiet, when a voice suddenly broke through the silence. “You guys are having a hugging party without me?” Kairi called from the entrance, voiced filled with utter betrayal. Sora grinned and pulled back. Riku tensed, but Sora squeezed his hand in reassurance. He looked over, and only responded when he got a nod in return from Riku. “Well, get over here!” he laughed.

Kairi took the invitation graciously and ran over and nearly tackled them both in a hug. A laugh escaped Riku’s lips as he wrapped his arms around both of them. Kairi moved to squeeze Riku’s cheeks. “No more being sad, got it? And _especially_ no more avoiding!” she huffed. Riku just groaned and lightly pushed at her hands.

Sora leaned on her. “Hey, Riku. How about we draw you to add to our portraits?” he suggested with a grin.

He blinked and looked between them and the drawing on the wall, clearly hesitant to agree but also very clearly wanting to be included.

Kairi looked between them as well, and suddenly seemed to understand the problem. Much quicker than he had, Sora noticed with only a little bit of spite. But that feeling was quickly chased away as Kairi got up and bounced a bit. “Yeah! I’ll get a good rock!” She searched the ground and came back with good drawing rocks for all three of them, sitting down in front of the drawing. “There’s three of us. So there should be three drawings,” she grinned at Riku.

He stared at them both with wide eyes but soon grinned back and took a rock. It wasn’t long before they were drawing and laughing, instantly falling into their cycle of teasing and drawing and imagining the adventures the three of them would have together.

Sora grinned happily as he added to their art. They were an adventurous, inseparable trio, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

~~

 

Warm, salty tears fell from blue eyes, splattering on the dark ground. Hands weak with exhaustion tried in vain to grasp at the rock that held the faded drawings of the three friends. Same hands clenched into fists as the figure collapsed in front of the wall, forehead pressing against the drawing of the paopu fruit that sat in the middle of the three, connecting them all.

Sora sat crouched in front of the drawings. Tears flowed freely, here where no one could see him. No one could see him after the _failure_ that was his mark of mastery exam. No one could see the weakness and lack of progress compared to his friends. _No one can see the connections severing-_

Sobs came harder and Sora’s self-deprecating thoughts came to a halt as the only thing that could hold his attention was the vain attempt to stop his tears. He’d left the tower for a while after the exam, unable to face _all of them there, watching, disappointed, dreading more working and more disappointment and more, saying Sora, you can’t do this without the power, Sora you can’t do this, Sora Sora Sora-_

He covered his ears, voices upon voices he distantly recognized all echoing and layering atop one another and creating a cacophony of pure panic.

He’d had to get away. And the moment he’d landed on the islands, entered the cave, his emotions hit him worse than any hit from any enemy.

His best friends had never been closer. He had so many people supporting him. But at the same time, they couldn’t feel further away. He was supposed to _help_ , supposed to protect, he was _chosen-_

_But you never really were chosen were you?_

Sora shook his head violently to clear the voice from his head. It was right, but he was still so sure he had improved so much. But how much had he failed? How many times had his friends needed to come to his rescue. If he just hadn’t _given in_ -

He coughed on his tears and pressed his hands to his eyes, desperate to stop all this pain from escaping. He didn’t want to fall behind. He didn’t want to be left. He moved his hands to look at the drawing once again. They’d all promised. Promised they would be an unbreakable trio.

But what use was he if he could barely fight alongside them..?

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there until the tears stopped. Until the desperation subsided. Too long. He stood up and clenched his fists. He wouldn’t let himself be left behind. He would fix this. He could stay by Riku and Kairi’s side. Donald and Goofy’s too. He would make sure of it.

Picking up a rock, he began drawing on the little bit of empty space left on the wall. A paopu fruit. Surrounded by three symbols. A crown, a heart, and a flower.

He would make sure of it.


End file.
